and then there were two
by tombombadillo
Summary: (13th in Puggy!Verse)
1. Chapter 1

**This is solely for Mary who has often been un-credited in the creation of the puggy family, and for this I do whole heartedly apologise. I love you. This entire thing is for you, lovely. Just to be clear, this doesn't take place with Kate and Rick, but will be with Mary and Alexis and Latte.**

**Disclaimer: more multi-chapter pugs yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!**

* * *

"Castle." He doesn't look up from his laptop, but he hums at her, the way he always does to let her know that she does have at least some sort of his imagination. "_Castle_."

"Busy, Kate."

"Yes, I _know_, and I _wouldn't_ be _interrupting_ you if it wasn't an _emergency_."

He looks up at her, his eyes suddenly wide with panic. "Kate?"

"Baby – I think the…" she winces, her hands white on the edge of his desk. "Baby – he's – now."

"Two weeks early? Are you sure?"

"No, Castle. No, I'm not at all. The feeling of having a baby trying to punch itself out of my _stomach_ is completely damn _normal_. But I just thought that you might like to know." She turns away from him with a menacing glare that he hasn't seen in her eyes in a _very_ long time, pushes back from the desk and reaches for the phone at the same time.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. But you know what I'm like – I panic and I get all –"

"Yes, I know. But phone the midwife and get her here." She's got her head pressed against the frame of his office door, a low moan falling out of her mouth. "Castle, seriously. Move."

"Here?! Kate – you need the hospital."

She shook her head, trying to take deep breaths. "Too long. Take too long."

"Oh jeez, you're serious aren't you?"

"That's what I've been trying to _fucking_ tell you."

"Okay, okay, just breathe. I need – shit, Kate. What are we going to do with Mary and Latte?" He's already holding the phone to his ear, his palm low on her back and rubbing slow circles. He remembers that it helped with Mary- tries to do the same now – breathes a little easier when he feels her relax just a little under his fingers. "I'll phone Rachel and then I'll phone Alexis. It'll be fine." Kate's nodding dumbly against the wood, her hand fumbling towards the hem of his shirt. "Rachel? Hi, it's Richard Castle. Uh, yeah – two weeks early. No, Kate doesn't think there's time. I don't know, two maybe three minutes apart? I can remember mostly what to do. Fifteen minutes, yeah, I'll leave the door open." He's phoning Alexis almost as soon as he's hung up, huffing and puffing the longer it takes for her to answer. "Alexis! I need you to babysit. Kate's gone into labour and we can't get to the hospital in time. Can you come look after Mary? Just keep her and Latte up in her room, keep them distracted. Bring Jenson if you have to, I just I need someone here and you're my only hope."

"Castle, stop quoting Star Wars. Not what I need right now."

"No, I know, I'm sorry. Alexis I gotta go. Let yourself in." He doesn't even hang up before he's shoving the cell phone into his pocket. "Kate, you gotta get to the bed." He curls her hand at her elbow, but doesn't tug at her.

She grunts at him. "Just… give me a minute."

"Thirty seconds."

"Castle-"

"You can't give birth standing up in my office."

"I know, Castle. I just can't move right now. You need to go and talk to Mary."

"I need to be with you."

"Castle, you need to go explain to our daughter why she's going to have to stay in her room for however long and why she's going to hear her mother screaming blue murder at her father. I'll be okay."

* * *

Mary is sat on her bed, Latte sat up in her lap, both of them engrossed in whatever it is that Mary is watching on his iPad. Her socks are fluffy and almost up to her knees, her toes wiggling in time to the music. They both look content enough, and he's loathe to disturb them, but he doesn't want to have either of them walking downstairs and having to listen to the screaming and cursing that's no doubt going to emanate through the downstairs.

"Hey, Mary. What are Latte and you watching?"

"Fairy Parents." She replies, tipping her head back and smiling at him. "Vicky's icky."

He chuckled, crouched down next to the bed. "Are you okay up here?"

"Yeah, Daddy. Latte and me are good."

"Good, I'm glad. Because you're gonna have to stay up here for a while. You can't come downstairs."

"Why? What did I do? I didn't do anything!"

"No, no, you've been a good girl today. You're not in trouble. But you know Mommy's having another baby?" Mary nods, wrapping her arms around Latte. "And the baby wasn't supposed to arrive for another couple of weeks, but baby's in a hurry and wants to come out now."

"Are you going to the hospital?"

"No, we're staying here. There's no time to get to the hospital. Alexis is on her way, she's going to keep you and Latte company, okay?"

Mary releases Latte, twists herself around to look up at Castle with fearful eyes. "Will Mommy be okay?"

"We've got a person coming round to help. Do you remember Rachel?"

Mary shrugs, and Castle waves a hand around. "It doesn't matter. But she's going to come here and she's going to help Mommy, and she'll make sure everything's okay. So don't worry, alright?" Mary nods, but it's shaky, and he pulls her into a hug, presses a heavy kiss against the crown of her head. "I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? You keep the iPad, watch whatever you want. I'll send some food and drink up with Alexis."

Mary winds her tiny hands into his shirt, burying her head against his chest. "I want to see Mommy."

"You can, munchkin. Just not yet. Later, I promise."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: AH BABIES. I was going to include a paragraph where Alexis tells Castle that she's pregnant too, but eh. I preferred leaving it where it was. Just know that Alexis is now pregnant. Yay!**

**Disclaimer: three hours and forty four minutes until Significant Others. I'M WAITING.**

* * *

As soon as Alexis has stepped in through Mary's bedroom door, the young girl is clamouring for her attention and she steps around her, mindful to not step on Latte's toes, and closes the door. Mary clings to her hand and Alexis tugs her over to the bed, Latte following obediently. Mary climbs onto the bed, her arms finding Latte automatically. Alexis rifles through the collection of CD's that Mary has stashed away up here, film soundtracks and Disney and a mix of music that Alexis suspects their father has put up here in the hope that she'd try and listen to it. She knows Mary's favourite music though, and it's not long before the Tangled soundtrack is blasting out, drowning out any noise that comes from downstairs. It's not long before Mary is bopping her head in time, singing along only slightly out of tune. She doesn't seem too bothered about whatever may be happening downstairs, and Latte hasn't seemed to notice that anything is going on, so Alexis picks up her bag, rooting through them for a textbook.

* * *

James isn't as small as Castle expected him to be, and he's thankful that the two weeks that his son missed in the womb don't seem to be that essential. He's not as much of a crier, not like Mary, but he's not as quiet as Alexis, but unlike his daughters, he just won't stay still. He's barely an hour old, but he's still got the talent of kicking the palm of Castle's hand with his foot, punching the other with the flat of his hand. His head is covered in a soft brown-blonde fuzz, and he knows that it will grow darker by the day, he was the same when he was a baby, and Mary too.

"You should go and get Mary and Alexis." Kate mumbles, tilting her head towards him.

She's tired, and he's tempted to just leave the room and let her sleep, take James with him and sit in Mary's room for a while. But he knows Mary wants to see her mother, knows that she'd be worried. "In a minute," he answers, still completely lost his newborn son, "don't wanna let him go."

"You've had long enough. Let me have a go. You can have him back when you go and get Mary and Alexis. And bring Latte, too."

Castle gives in, sits back so Kate can reach up to take James from him. He doesn't whine, just shifts his attention from him to his mother. He swallows past the lump in his throat, the image of Kate with James in her arms, his head already tipped against her chest, the thump of her heartbeat relaxing him. Kate's attention is lost, too enamoured by the tiny human that she's just bought to life. He sniffs and shakes himself, he'll be back again in five minutes, with his whole family.

* * *

"Daddy!" Mary leaps over Alexis's legs, stumbles over Latte's prone form and is only saved from landing face first by Castle's quick thinking. He catches her in his arms, pulls her up so he can rest her on his hip. "Daddy, is Mommy okay?"

"Mommy's good. She's fine. You want to go meet your brother?"

Mary's face lights up and she gasps. "I got a brother! Lexis we got a brother!"

Alexis stands up and walks over to Castle, wraps her arms around his neck and kisses his cheek. "Congratulations, Dad. You guys got a name?"

"James Alexander Castle. Has a ring to it, don't you think?"

Mary knees him not so gently in the stomach, but he doesn't have the heart to chastise her for it. "I wanna go see Mommy!"

"Alright, alright. We're going to go see Mommy. Now you have to be careful, okay? Mommy's tired and James is only little. Be gentle with both of them."

"Gentle. I can do gentle!"

"He's so small." Mary whispers, kneeling next to Kate in bed. "He's tiny!"

Kate nudges her with her free elbow. "You were that small once. Smaller, actually. He's bigger than you."

Mary frowns at Kate, and then at James, and then back at Kate. "But… I'm bigger."

"Now you're bigger. But when you were born, you were smaller than James. And you took a lot longer to come out, but you grew fast."

"Can I hold him?"

"You have to be careful, okay?" Kate patted the bed next to her, waited until Mary had settled herself, legs stretched out in front of her, eyes still on James. "Keep still, and no wriggling around." Kate shifts slightly, moves James until she can put him securely in Mary's arms.

James lets out a slight noise of discomfort, but he quietens down again once he's settled. Castle settles in on Kate's other side, an arm around her shoulders. It doesn't take long for her to sink against him, head on his shoulder, eyes closed. Alexis lifts Latte up and sits cross legged at the bottom of the bed, Latte in her lap. The dog doesn't squirm, just sits there happily, tongue out. They're not worried about Latte's reaction to James, she accepted Mary with ease only stuck her nose in the carry seat once (and only then it was because a diaper needed changing) and she's never been violent towards anybody. Alexis scratched the top of the dog's head, grinned at her as she tipped her head back.

"Hey, hey, Mommy? I think James is asleep." Mary lifted her gaze from her brother, turned it towards Kate. "Oh. Mommy's asleep too."


End file.
